Never Give Up Hope
by kdkretch1993
Summary: Beginning in "Eclispe" where Bella asks Jacob to kiss her, 'Never Give Up Hope" is a story of never giving up on the one you love and fighting for her until there is nothing left to fight for. The twist? Bella must choose between Edward and Jacob, but will she choose Edward? Or is her new found love for Jacob too strong, and is it stronger than her love for Edward?


**DISCLAIMER: This story contains a passage from **_**Eclipse**_**, by Stephenie Meyer. All original characters and ideas belong to her.**

**I own only the new characters I may create in the future and the plotline.**

"_Kiss, me Jacob. Kiss me, and then come back."_

_He hesitated in the shadow, warring with himself. He half-turned again to the west, his torso twisting away from me while his feet stayed planted where they were. Still looking away, he took one uncertain step in my direction, and then another. He swung his face around to look at me, his eyes doubtful._

_I stared back. I had no idea what expression was on my face._

_Jacob rocked back on his heels, and then lurched forward, closing the distance between us in three long strides._

_I knew he would take advantage of the situation. I expected it. I held very still— my eyes closed, my fingers curled into fists at my sides—__as his hands caught my face and his lips found mine with an eagerness that was not far from violence.__  
__I could feel his anger as his mouth discovered my passive resistance. One hand moved to the nape of my neck, twisting into a fist around the roots of my hair. The other hand grabbed roughly at my shoulder, shaking me, then dragging me to him. His hand continued down my arm, finding my wrist and pulling my arm up around his neck. I left it there, my hand still tightly balled up, unsure how far I could go in my desperation to keep him alive. All the while his lips, disconcertingly soft and warm, tried to force a response out of mine.__  
__As soon as he was sure I wouldn't drop my arm, he freed my wrist, his hand feeling its way down my waist. His burning hand found the skin at the small of my back, and he yanked me forward, bowing my body against his.__  
__His lips gave up on mine for a moment, but I knew he was nowhere close to finished. His mouth followed the line of my jaw, and the explored the length of my neck. He freed my hair, reaching for my other arm to draw it around his neck like the first.__  
__Then both of his arms wre constricted around my waist, and his lips found my ear.__  
__"You can do better than this, Bella," he whispered huskily. "You're overthinking it."__  
__I shivered as I felt his teeth graze my earlobe.__  
__"That's right," he murmured. "For once, just let yourself feel what you feel."__  
__I shook my head mechanically until one of his hands wound back into my hair and stopped me.__  
__His voice turned acidic. "Are you sure you want me to come back? Or did you really want me to die?"__  
__Anger rocked through me like the whiplash after a heavy punch. That was too much- he wasn't fighting fair.__  
__My arms were already around his neck, so I grabbed two fistfuls of his hair- ignoring the stabbing pain in my right hand- and fought back, struggling to pull my face away from his.__  
__And Jacob misunderstood.__  
__He was too strong to recognize that my hands, trying to yank his hair out by the roots, meant to cause him pain.__  
__Instead of anger, he imagined passion. He thought I was finally responding to him.__  
__With a wild gasp, he brought his mouth back to mine, his fingers clutching frantically against the skin at my waist.__  
__A jolt of anger unbalanced my tenuous hold on selfcontrol; his unexpected, ecstatic response overthrew it entirely. If there had been only triumph, I might have been able to resist him. But the utter defenselessness of his sudden joy cracked my determination, disabled it. My brain disconnected from my body, and I was kissing him back. Against all reason, my lips wre moving with his in strange, confusing ways they'd never moved before- because I didn't have to be careful with Jacob, and he certainly wasn't being careful with me.__  
__My fingers tightened in his hair, but I was pulling him closer now.__  
__He was everywhere. The piercing sunlight turned my eyelids red, and the color fit, matched the heat. The heat was everywhere. I couldn't see or hear or feel anything that wasn't Jacob.__  
__The tiny piece of my brain that retained sanity screamed questions at me.__  
__Why wasn't I stopping this? Worse than that, why couldn't I find in myself even the desire to _want_ to stop? What did it mean that I didn't want _him_ to stop? That my hands pulled me too tight against his body, and yet it was not tight enough for me?_

_The questions were stupid, because I knew the answer: I'd been lying to myself._

_Jacob was right. He'd been right all along. He was more than just my friend. That's why it was so impossible to tell him goodbye __— because I was in love with him. Too. I loved him, much more than I should. __[…] In this moment, it felt as though we were the same person. His pain had always been andwould always be my pain__ — now his joy was my joy. I felt joy, too. […]_

_For one brief, never-ending second, an entirely different path expanded behind the lids of my tear-wet eyes. As if I were looking through the filter of Jacob's thoughts […] I could see Charlie and Renée mixed into a strange collage with Billy and Sam and La Push. I could see years passing, and meaning something as they passed, changing me. I could see the enormous red-brown wolf that I loved, always standing as protector if I needed him. For the tiniest fraction of a second, I saw the bobbing heads of two small, black-haired children, running away from me into the familiar forest. When they disappeared, they took the rest of the vision with them._

_And then, quite distinctly, I felt the splintering along the fissure line in my heart as the smaller part wrenched itself away from the whole._

_Jacob's lips were still before mine were. I opened my eyes and he was staring at me with wonder and elation._

"_I have to leave," he whispered._

"_No."_

"_He smiled, please by my response. "I won't be long," he promised. "But one thing first…"_

_He bent to kiss me again, and there was no reason to resist. What would be the point?_

_This time was different. His hands were soft on my face and his warm lips were gentle, unexpectedly hesitant. It was brief, and very, very sweet._

_His arms curled around me, and he hugged me securely while he whispered in my ear._

"That_ should have been our first kiss. Better late then never."_

_Against his chest, where he couldn't see, the tears welled up and spilled over._

_I lay facedown across the sleeping bag, waiting for justice to find me._

I felt Edward's cool hand on my shoulder. The darkness failed to find me fast enough.

"Shhh…" he soothed.

I just sobbed more. I was going to have to hurt one of them. I loved them both so much, but I had to choose one. The other was going to suffer pain, because of me.

"You love him," Edward told me.

I nodded. "I love you, too," I argued.

"It's not always enough."

"Where's Jacob?"

"He just arrived in the clearing. He's joining in. Oooh, ouch, yes!" Edward said, watching the fight by listening to Seth's mind.

Then he gasped. I just stared at him as he yanked me out of the tent.

"Seth, go!" he yelled, and Seth took off.

"Victoria's coming?" I guessed.

"Yes. She picked up my scent and decided to follow it. She's close," he said.

He didn't bother whispering, so she was within earshot.

She broke through the trees, her wavy red hair flowing in the light breeze. She wasn't alone; Riley, the missing teen, was with her.

"She doesn't love you," Edward said.

"Shhh, don't listen to him Riley. I love you."

"I can read her mind, so I know. She doesn't love you. She's only ever loved James, her true mate. She's using you to avenge him."

Riley glanced at Victoria but returned his gaze to Edward. "No," he whispered.

"Yes. She feels that mate for mate would be a fair trade. She came here to kill Bella, and she hopes I'll kill you, too."

Riley took a step back, shaking his head slightly. He turned to Victoria.

"I love only you," she whispered to him. But the disgust in her voice finally gave her away.

Riley lunged at her, knocking her to the ground. Edward jumped in, grabbing her hair and pulling.

Riley got up, took several steps back, and kept shaking his head.

"You were never going to win, Victoria," Edward said to her as he prepared to rip her head off.

As he did so, Victoria screamed in pain, "James!" Her cries were cut short as Edward tore her head from her body. Riley was sobbing.

"You can either join us, or you can leave. The fight is over. We won," Edward told him.

Riley's head snapped up. "How could I ever be with your family? You killed her!" he shouted.

"It was the only way to save Bella."

Riley nodded fractionally. He took a few steps back. "I can't. Maybe I can give my parent's some kind of closure." He turned and ran off, but Seth lunged at him, pinning him to the ground, jaws snapping.

"We can't risk you exposing us," Edward said.

Seth proceeded to rip Riley's head off and toss it into the fire. The expression on Riley's face was relief. Seth tore him limb from limb, throwing each piece into the fire Edward had started for Victoria.

"Let's go to the clearing," Edward said, motioning. He reached for me, but stopped when I flinched away.

Seth came over and leaned down, offering me a ride.

I glanced at Edward, who shrugged, so I climbed on his back and held on tight. Despite my strong grip, Seth never showed any sign that I was hurting him.

We arrived at the clearing to find the Cullens gathered around a fire. The smell of burning flesh filed the air and it made me gag. I climbed off Seth's back and walked over to the fire. Edwards stood by my side. It was then that I noticed a newcomer hiding behind Esme. She was petite and had long dark brown hair and crimson eyes. I gasped.

Edward followed my gaze. "She surrendered. She promised peace with us, not to attack," he said.

Just then, I heard a screech and saw a flash of russet fur. I looked closer to the trees and saw Leah fighting with a newborn who had escaped detection. Just as the newborn was about to crush her, Jacob lunged, knocking the vampire to the ground. They struggled for the upper hand, neither one able to gain it. Quickly though, the newborn got her arms around Jacob and pulled. Then there was a loud yelp, and Jacob was writhing on the ground in pain. Leah was able to react and rip the newborns head off before tossing it into the fire.

"Jacob!" I cried. I took off over to him, tears streaming down my face.

"Bella," he whispered before blacking out. Carlisle was by his side in an instant, looking him over.

"We need to get him back to my house. I need to set the bones before they finish healing," Carlisle calmly said.

Alice joined us, searching the future for any visits from the Volturi. When she saw none, she nodded to Carlisle.

"Help get him back to his house," Sam said as he came out from the trees. Sam, Paul, Jared, and Seth helped carry Jacob away. I kneeled on the ground, crying. I felt Edward's hand on my shoulder and I looked up at him.

"What are you going to do with her," I said, motioning towards the newcomer.

"If she wants to join our family, she has to switch to our lifestyle. She'll have to remain hidden until she can control her thirst. If not, we'll have to destroy her," Edward answered.

I gasped softly, not knowing what else to say. My heart ached to see Jacob, but I was afraid to ask Edward to take me back so I could go see him.

I didn't know what I was going to do. I loved both of them, but I knew which one I loved more. And it was going to be hard hurting the other.

"Edward?"

"Yes?" he asked, looking down at me.

"Can we head back?" I asked as I watched his family and the newcomer leave.

He nodded and held his hand out so I could get up.

I climbed on his back and shut my eyes as he took off running. We arrived back at his house in no time but he didn't go inside. He let me down and turned to face me.

He looked at me silent. I shifted uncomfortably, not knowing what to say.

"I think we need to talk," he finally said.

I gulped. "Yeah…" I whispered.

"You love Jacob."

It wasn't a question.

"Yes, but —" I began.

"I know; you love me, too. But is it enough?" he asked, the pain and sadness evident in his voice.


End file.
